Big city or small town? Where does filmmaking become legitimate in 2025?

THIS BOTHERS ME and it should bother you too. Is small town filmmaking legitimate? For that matter, is Canadian/Albertan filmmaking...?

I don't know who needs to hear this but I know a lot of us filmmakers and artists do, especially in Alberta/Canada.

We are not less valid, talented, capable or visionary if we live in a smaller/less active filmmaking jurisdiction. I see this "attitude" so often in our industry. People in LA discount people in Canada. People in Vancouver and Toronto discount filmmakers and actors in Calgary. Then those same people who complain about that truism in Calgary turn around do the same thing to other filmmakers in Grand Prairie, Red Deer, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Fort Macleod, etc. The stereotypes are killing our creative output. Are we all still in high school?

If I could monetize the artistic judgement I feel from larger centers I'd be stacking gold coins like Scrooge McDuck.

If money trickled down from big cities like the judgment seems to then everyone in a small town would be a millionaire.

Great filmmaking is not jurisdiction dependent! Sure, some of the bigger centres have great training, infrastructure and work opportunities, that's true. However, some people, like myself, used to live in Vancouver and Calgary. I was trained by award winning producers, sound designers, acting coaches and musicians there. I've worked in those centres and then CHOSE to come back to Lethbridge (in my case). My skills and knowledge are not solely linked to my hometown and my vision far exceeds the bounds of my city limits. I'm sure many of us will agree.

If you have ever been passed over for a role or a job only to have someone from LA, Vancouver, Toronto or New York flown in at a massive expense to production then you know what I'm talking about.

Not everyone in Lethbridge or small town Alberta is in the agriculture or oil business, believe it or not. Some of us are actual filmmaking professionals and artists who ONLY DO THIS for a career, which is honestly more than I can say for many Calgary, Vancouver, Toronto or even LA based "filmmakers" who turn their nose up as soon as someone from a small town enters the conversation. I started my business in 2018 and have been solely focused on this since then. Through a pandemic and everything since.

Listen, I get it, big cities are shiny and loud. They are like bug traps for our aspiring creatives. But then reality kicks you in the pants and you gotta pay the bills. Sometimes we need that serving job. I'm no stranger to that in my past.

That said, today, and for the last 6 years, I've paid ALL my bills with filmmaking/acting. So am I less or more of a filmmaker because I live in Lethbridge? Jury is still out on that one - apparently. I have many friends in Vancouver and Calgary who HAVE to work other jobs because they don't make enough as filmmakers or actors alone in those "film centers." However, I still consider them filmmakers and creatives, despite the fact that I work full-time in this field when they - don't. I mean no shade, just trying to point out that your jurisdiction doesn't somehow validate you as a filmmaker or an artist. The work does. Most recently, "There Are No Squirrels in Lethbridge" has been my primary work. 👇

GoFundMe campaign video for a recent project I got funded which completed principal photography on May 24th, 2025 in LETHBRIDGE. My co-writer/producer/director Conner Christmas and I continue to build this project up in an effort to ignite and legitimize the economic engine of filmmaking in Lethbridge, Alberta.

For no lack of trying, self-education and professional training, I am a literal swiss army knife when it comes to all aspects of production and I keep learning with fervor. When I'm not qualified to deliver professional and outstanding work that is required then I know someone who is and can/have hired them. So you're not better or worse if you're from a big city or a small town. YOUR STORIES MATTER and DESERVE TO BE TOLD, regardless of your jurisdiction. The trick is actually being a professional and creating undeniable, tangible and marketable works that can move the needle of culture and economies for Canadians, audiences and markets around the world.

Our industry's obsession with this localized classism that pits one jurisdiction above another is weakening our storytelling, preventing our industry from growing stronger and reducing opportunity across the board. It is surely stifling small town based artists all over our country.

Here's some food for thought... Wayne Gretzky "The Great One" was from Brantford, Ontario. Fay Wray was from Cardston, Alberta and starred in the original King Kong. Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling are from London, Ontario. Shania Twain is from Timmins, Ontario. Avril Lavigne is from Bellville, Ontario. Celine Dion is from Charlemagne, Quebec. Gene BraveRock is from Kainai nation, southern Alberta. Joni Mitchell is from Fort, Macleod, Alberta. The list goes on. Many stars of our world came from some of the smallest communities we have. To think you're somehow better because you live where more people live is disastrously ludicrous. IMHO - also facts don't lie.

This mentality that attaches capability, creativity and marketability to the size of a city or market is short-sighted, self defeating and deeply unharmonious with a flourishing Canadian film industry and the whole of our cultural industries in this country.

I think we need to work on this if we ever want to see our industry(ies) flourish in Canada.

But what do I know... I only do this 24/7/365.

[Want to talk more about this? Reach out through a form on the site. Comment on this blog post or give me a call and let's keep the ball rolling toward a more robust Canadian filmmaking industry.]